Venetian blind



Feb. 25, 1958 N. L. ETTEN VENETIAN BLIND 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 27. 1955 iZEZZZZQF W/(WMS A. [/Zf/l w am 1E1: 5

Feb. 25, 1958 N. L. ETTEN VENETIAN BLIND 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 27, 1955 VENETIAN BLIND Nicholas L. Etten, Waterloo, Iowa, assiguor to ChamberlIam Corporation, Waterloo, Iowa, a corporation of owa Application September 27, 1955, Serial No. 536,921

1 Claim. (Cl. 160-170) This invention relates to a Venetian blind and more particularly to an improved system for controlling raising and lowering movements of a Venetian blind or the like.

This invention is preferably applied to a Venetian blind of the type in which a plurality of pairs of vertical tapes are provided with vertically spaced cross webs on which slats are supported with means for suspending the tapes and with a bottom bar connected to the lower ends of the tapes, a plurality of vertical cords being provided for suspending the bottom bar. In the conventional type of blind, the cords are trained about suitable pulleys with the ends of the cords being dropped downwardly along one side of the blind, to be pulled downwardly for raising the bottom bar with latch means for locking the cords in a desired position of the bottom bar. With such an arrangement, considerable force must be exerted on the cords to raise the blind and, in addition, the latch means is often erratic in operation.

It has been proposed to wind the upper ends of the cords about a spring roller of the type used in conventional window shades, with latch means controlled by movement of the bottom bar. With such an arrangement, it is possible to greatly reduce the effort required to raise and lower the blind. However, the window shade type of latch means is often erratic in operation particularly with a relatively heavy structure such as involved with a Venetian blind.

It has also been proposed to use a spring roller on which the upper ends of the cords are wound with a crank or the like for rotating the roller. However, with such an arrangement, it is tedious to move the blind between a fully raised and a fully lowered position and, in addition, the crank is usually not located in a convenient position.

This invention was evolved with the object of providing a system for controlling raising and lowering of a Venetian blind or the like which is positive and reliable in operation, which requires minimum effort to raise and lower the blind and which is simple and readily con structed from a minimum number of component parts.

According to an important feature of this invention, spring means are provided for acting on the vertical cords which suspend the bottom bar of the blind to urge the bottom bar upwardly, and a manually actuatable member is selectively actuatable between a first position in which the spring means is latched to prevent raising of the bottom bar and a second position in which the spring means are released to allow movement of the bottom bar. Preferably, the manually actuatable member is conveniently located on the bottom bar.

According to a further feature of the invention, the spring means which act on the cords to urge the bottom bar upwardly are carried by the bottom bar. With this arrangement, the cords need only be secured to the supporting structure at their upper ends, and it is not necessary to provide a cumbersome mechanism at the upper end of the assembly. Locating the spring means in the bottom bar is of particular advantage when the actuating 2,824,608 PatentedFeb. 25, 1958 member is also located on the bottom bar, since a direct connection therebetween can be readily provided.

In accordance with another feature of the invention, a plurality of spools are journaled in the bottom bar and the lower ends of the vertical cords are wound on such spools with means, preferably spring means, for rotating the spools to adjust the vertical position of the bottom bar.

This invention contemplates other and more specific objects, features and advantages which will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate preferred embodiments and in which:

Figure l is a front elevational view of a Venetian blind assembly constructed in accordance with the principles of this invention;

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 11-11 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken substantially along line III-III of Figure 1; and

Figure 4 is a sectional .view taken substantially along line IV--IV of Figure 3.

Reference numeral 10 generally designates a Venetian blind assembly constructed according to the principles of this invention. The assembly 10 comprises two pairs of tapes 11, 12 and 13, 14 with the usual vertically spaced cross webs 15 and 16 between the tapes 11, 12 and 13, 14, respectively, horizontal slats 17 being supported between the webs 15 and 16. The tapes 1114 are secured toa top bar 18 which is supported for pivotal movement about a horizontal axis between brackets 19 and 20 aflixed to 'a bar 21 which may be secured in a window frame or the like. The bracket 19 carries a conventional mechanism 22 controlled by pull cords 23 and 24 for tilting the top bar 18 so as to obtain any desired inclination of the slats 17.

A bottom bar generally designated by reference numeral 25 is connected to the lower ends of the tapes 1114. The bottom bar 25 has a housing including an inverted generally channel-shaped sheet metal member 26 which provides an upper wall 27, a rear wall 28 and a front wall 29 for the housing. A shallow generally channel-shaped sheet metal member 30 forms the bottom wall of the housing and has out-turned flanges 31 and 32 engaged in forwardly and rearwardly facing grooves in .the lower edge portions of the rear and front walls 28 and 29, such grooves being preferably formed by suitably deforming the sheet metal. A pair of end caps 33 and 34 are press -fitted on the ends of the housing of the bottom bar 25.

For raising and lowering the bottom bar 25, a pair of cords 35 and 36 are affixed to the bar 21 at the top of the assembly and extend downwardly through the slats 17 respectively between the tapes 11, 12, 13 and 14, and the lower end portions of the cords 35 and 36 are wound around reels 37 and 38 which are affixed to the ends of a horizontal shaft 39 jourualed in the bottom bar 25 by means including L-shaped brackets 40 and 41 secured to the rear wall 28 of the bottom bar housing. Thus by rotation of the shaft 39, the bottom bar is raised or lowered. The cords 35 and 36 are preferably in the form of fiat strips or tapes to facilitate smooth winding and unwinding on the reels 37, 38.

The bottom bar is preferably urged upwardly by means of a wire spring 42 coiled about the shaft 39. The right end of the spring 42 is bent to extend through an opening 43 in the shaft 39 (Figure 2) and the left end of the spring 42 is suitably locked to a bracket 44 secured between the rear and front walls 28 and 29 of the bottom bar housing at a point adjacent the center of the bottom bar. The spring 42 is of much length and resiliency and is tensioned to such an extent that when released, it will elevate the bottom bar 25 to a fully raised position with the elastic limit being not exceeded when the bar is pulled down to a fully lowered position. It will be appreciated that more than one. spring may be wound around the shaft 39 if desired. Such may be very desirable in very wide blinds.

The bottom bar 25 is releasably latched against upward movement by means including a ratchet wheel 45 secured to the center of the shaft 39 between the bracket 44 and a second bracket 46 secured between the front and rear walls 28 and 29 of the bottom bar housing. A pawl 47 is pivoted on a pin 48 between the bracketsi44, 46 and is urged in a clockwise direction as viewed in Figure 4' to urge an end portion 49 thereof against the toothed periphery of the ratchet wheel 45. For so urging the pawl 47, a spring wire 50 is wound around the pin 48 with one end thereof engaging a portion of the pawl 47 and with the other end thereof being held against movement relative to the bottom bar. With this arrangement, the shaft 39 can be rotated in a clockwise direction as viewed in Figure 4 when the bottom bar 25 is pulled downwardly, the portion 49 of the pawl 47 being arranged to ride over the teeth of the ratchet wheel 45 in this operation, but the shaft 39 is locked against rotation in a counterclockwise direction to prevent upward movement of the bottom bar 25.

The pawl 47 may be pivoted in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in Figure 4 to release the ratchet lock and allow the bottom bar to move upwardly under the force of the spring 42. For this purpose, a plate 51 is disposed over the pawl 47 in position to engage an end portion 52 of the pawl 47 with an opening beingtprovided in the upper wall 27 of the bottom bar housing to permit engagement of the plate 51 by the thumb or finger of the operator. The plate 51 is preferably pivotally supported and for this purpose, it has a pair of down-turned flange portions 53 and 54 adjacent its rearward end, the flange portions 53 and 54 being journaled on a pin 55 extending between the brackets 44 and 46 adjacent the rear wall 28 of the bottom bar housing.

It will be readily appreciated that when the plate 51 is depressed, it will engage the portion 52 of the pawl 47 to rotate the pawl 47 in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in Figure 4 to move the portion 49 of the pawl 47 out of the path of the peripheral teeth of the ratchet wheel 45 to allow rotation of the ratchet wheel 45 and the shaft 39 in a counter-clockwise direction, .to thereby permit the spring 42 to rotate the shaft 39 to wind the cords 35 and 36 on the reels 37 and elevate the bottom bar 25.

It should be noted that the shaft 39 extends through the brackets 44, 46, the brackets thus providing additional support for the shaft 39.

It will, accordingly, be appreciated that this invention provides a system for controlling raising and lowering of a Venetian blind or the like which is positive and reliable in operation, which requires minimum effort to raise and lower the blind and which is simple and readily constructed from a minimum number of component parts.

It will be appreciated that although the invention is illustrated in connection with a certain conventional type of blind, there may be other types of blinds to which the invention may be readily applied and terms referring to elements of the illustrated blind are intended to include equivalent elements of other types of blinds.

It will be understood that modifications and varia tions may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of the present invention.

I claim as my invention:

In a Venetian blind including a frame member arranged to be fixedly secured to a window frame, a top bar carried by said frame member, a plurality of pairs of vertical tapes secured at the upper ends thereof to said top bar, vertically spaced cross webs between each of said pairs of tapes, and slats supported on said cross webs, a bottom bar connected to the lower ends of said vertical tapes, a shaft journaled in said bottom bar and extending ,for substantially the full length thereof, a pair of reels-fixed to said shaft adjacent the opposite ends thereof, a pair of vertical cords of flat strip form wound on said reels and extending upwardly from said reels through said slats, means securing the upper ends of said cords to portions of said frame member directly above said reels, spring means connected to said bottom bar and said shaft and wound on said shaft in a direction to urge said bar upwardly, latch means within said bottom bar acting between said bottom bar and said shaft for latching said shaft against rotation, and a manually actuatable member located centrally on said bottom bar and connected to said latching means for-controlling release of the same.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 201,710 Shaw Mar. 26, 1878 842,936 Case Feb. 5, 1907 2,164,556 Udstad July 4, 1939 

